Wine FP Selectionshttp://www.sfgate.com/wine/collectionRss/Wine-FP-Selections-13479.php
http://www.sfgate.com/restaurants/article/Birba-A-wine-bar-with-a-difference-6247623.php
article6247623
The neighborhood already has at least four others, each with its own niche — Hôtel Biron for Tinder dates, Fig & Thistle for pre-theater drinks, Arlequin for sitting in the sun, and so on. Tiny Birba offers a neighborhood-y, European-style vibe that puts the emphasis on hanging out. An acquaintance pointed her to the 575-square-foot space, hardly bigger than a studio apartment. Valgiusti’s wine bona fides show on her list of mostly European wines by the glass and bottle; you’ll find more varietals like Barbaresco than Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, and vermouths and sherries have their own sections. Valgiusti says that she wants Birba to be the kind of place where locals leave keys for friends coming in from the airport — a corner bar that serves as a meeting place and second living room. Voices bouncing off the concrete walls were convivial more than deafening, and groups blended together in the narrow room. Small details save it from feeling like a bunker, like a rustic metal bucket holding white wines in ice, Spanish tiles behind the bar and a blue bench in back for groups or couples. Food comes from former Bar Jules chef Jill Hanson, in the form of tapas — like boquerones and Spanish tortilla — and a short lunch menu of sandwiches, salads and soups. Vergues Blanquette de Limoux Languedoc ($10); Easkoot 2014 “Perseverance” Chileno Valley Rosé of Pinot Noir ($12); Renato Corino 2013 Barbera d’Alba ($13). ]]>
Mon, 4 May 2015 07:01:00 UThttp://www.sfgate.com/restaurants/article/Zoomaak-as-colorful-as-its-Korean-drinks-6231346.php
article6231346Fri, 24 Apr 2015 11:00:00 UThttp://www.sfgate.com/restaurants/article/Union-Larder-is-a-wine-bar-pure-and-simple-6015709.php
article6015709
“Crisis” would overstate it, but when it comes to wine bars, San Francisco is in an existential spot. Mission creep has turned many local wine bars into bistros in disguise, or exclusive boys’ clubs for those who go long on Echezeaux. Union Larder also functions as a sequel to their original store, selling sundries and an extensive cheese selection assembled by former San Francisco Cheese School Director Kristi Bachman, all of it available to eat there or take home. Esopenko’s inspiration was the Barcelona wine bar that he frequented in his 20s, the sort of place where you’d throw back a glass of cava, scarf a couple of slivers of cured meat and be on your way. The design brushes against industrialism — the bar’s coarse metal top, unfinished concrete framing the domed windows — yet evades the city’s current restaurant cliches. (Have we not reclaimed all the wood yet?) The 32-seat space is tall and airy enough to transition with grace from daytime shop to bar. Dusk falls and bar stools fill with young and mostly female customers. Esopenko has devised a 40-bottle wine list, with most available by the glass, that leans heavily on newer California producers like Field Recordings and Calder, plus a smattering of Basque Txakoli, Anjou rosé and the like. Chef Ramon Siewert, a Quince veteran, operates with a radiant-heat oven and meat slicer. The most ambitious might be Siewert’s Red Hawk BLT, which incorporates country bread with slightly too coarse a crumb so that pungent Cowgirl Creamery cheese oozes out of what’s already a bacon-larded sandwich decadent enough to make Mae West blush. ]]>
Thu, 15 Jan 2015 17:27:02 UThttp://www.sfgate.com/restaurants/article/Drink-Up-A-rarefied-take-on-Japanese-drinking-at-5978015.php
article5978015Wed, 24 Dec 2014 20:04:15 UThttp://www.sfgate.com/restaurants/article/Les-Clos-Mark-Bright-s-wine-bar-is-an-amalgam-5856124.php
article5856124
Four-star restaurants are scrambling today to embrace their casual side, and the wine bar is the latest object of their affections. Les Clos, it is called, although its owner’s reflex toward personal branding appears in the full name, Bright’s Les Clos, which graces an evocative Art Moderne logo worthy of a Pigalle billboard. At Saison, Bright has developed one of the most ambitious wine programs in town — a deep collection that can read like a vinous endangered species list. Glasses of wine (in 3-, 6- or 10-ounce servings) are affordable, and mostly an absolute delight, as with a citrus-pithy 2012 Scheurebe from Franconia’s Hans Wirsching — a wine deserving of a German ambassadorship. Witness the Tsai Nicoulai select caviar ($140/ounce), or glance at the row of tins on the top shelf. San Francisco wants such things these days; one glance at RN74’s current wine list is an instant barometer of your relative wealth. Higgins has assembled a wine-knowledgable staff, but during my visits, I kept thinking about sprezzatura, the untranslatable Italian word for the art of making difficult things look effortless. Come for a fine muffaletta, which oozes fiery nduja out the side, or the best rendition I’ve had in years of a largely outmoded French classic called oeufs en meurette (eggs in red wine sauce), also served in those teensy Le Creusets. ]]>
Wed, 29 Oct 2014 21:25:43 UThttp://www.sfgate.com/restaurants/article/Cadet-wine-bar-in-Napa-offers-new-musical-spin-on-5701374.php
article5701374Wed, 20 Aug 2014 21:11:39 UT